Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof (GBA)
GBA: Arrest of a Suspected Member of the Al-Khatib Department of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate on Suspicion of Crimes Against Humanity
Karlsruhe (ots)
Today (27 May 2025), the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had agents of the Federal Criminal Police Office arrest
the Syrian national Fahad A.
in Pirmasens (Rhineland-Palatinate) in execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice.
The arrested individual is strongly suspected of acts of killing, torture, and deprivation of liberty as crimes against humanity (section 7 para. 1 nos. 1, 5, 9 of the German Code of Crimes against International Law).
Essentially, the arrest warrant sets out the following criminal charges:
At least from the end of April 2011 onwards, the Syrian regime under then-president Bashar Al Assad systematically resorted to brutal force against critics. The Syrian secret intelligence services played a key role in those measures. The objective was to suppress the protest movement from early on and to intimidate the population. Accordingly, actual and presumed political opponents were arrested without legal basis accross the country, detained, tortured and, in many cases, killed.
Between late April 2011 and mid-April 2012, Fahad A. served as guard in a prison of Department 251 (Al-Khatib Department), which was run by the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate. He took part in well over 100 interrogations where prisoners were subjected to severe physical abuse, for instance electrocution or beatings with cables. Following his superiors' orders, the suspect also harassed prisoners at night by, for example, hanging them from the ceiling, pouring cold water over them or forcing them to remain in uncomfortable positions. No less than 70 inmates succumbed to such abuse and the catastrophic conditions of imprisonment.
Today, the suspect will be brought before the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice who will read out the arrest warrant and decide on its execution.
Rückfragen bitte an:
Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof (GBA)
Dr. Ines Peterson
Staatsanwältin beim BGH
Brauerstr. 30
76135 Karlsruhe
Telefon: 0721 8191-4100
Fax: 0721 8191-8492
E-Mail: presse@generalbundesanwalt.de
http://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/
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